5 Essential Elements of Better Social Media Engagement

Storytelling is the Key to Great Social Media

You want to know what I love most about social media? You can talk directly with your own audience. A while ago, I tweeted how much I was enjoying reading a book on the history of video games. The author of the book saw my post and gave me a shoutout! That was not just a man managing his brand reputation. That was a writer who valued his readers.

So where does storytelling come in to play here? Social media is meant to connect us with each other. And there’s no more powerful way to do that than through telling a good story. In other words, you have to have valuable content. That content has to connect with people and make them new or repeat customers of yours. It can be a challenge to maintain a Twitter or Facebook page that sells but entertains at the same time.

Brands have come up with many ingenious ways to tell their story through social media. But here are five common elements that can help you increase social media engagement.

Remember, this is about your brand and your story. Tailor your content to your company’s brand story to achieve sustainable social media engagement.

1. High-Quality Photos

If you want people to engage more with your posts, you have to entice them with high-quality photographs. Something to also keep in mind is that photos get shared more than any other kind of post. There are many sites that collect and manage photography that’s available for commercial use like Unsplash. Also, there are free, easy-to-use editing tools like Canva online (which also has its own library of free images). You should also think about investing in a decent camera to take photos of work done, office or store events, and conferences that can contribute to your brand story.

Use editing tools like Canva to create unique post headers and titles for your accounts.

2. Reach Out

You should expect a handful of your customers to reach out to you via your social media accounts for customer service requests. Why not be proactive and encourage them to do so? Even if most of your customers will email or call you, making yourself available online will make you appear more responsive to customer needs.

Major brands like JetBlue are an example of excellent responsiveness to customer needs. Research shows 30% of brands with a Twitter profile even have a separate handle for customer support.

The easiest way to let customers know you are available via these platforms is to consistently post and connect all platforms with share and like buttons or widgets on your webpage.

3. Shared interests

Your customers will appreciate exclusive deals for being a Twitter follower, but they’ll also appreciate knowing what else you’re involved in outside of work. Knowing your customer-base and their interests is extremely valuable for making social media content more engaging. Your brand story should feel relatable and well-rounded with something other than industry knowledge.

Screenshot originally from this post on Social Media Examiner with additional ideas on how to improve your engagement on Facebook.

The content you choose to share should open up a relevant conversation with your customers like the one above from Rosetta Stone.

4. Showcase employees

There’s very few better ways to feel close to a business than knowing the employees. Showcase the service, talents, and personalities of your staff. Not only will your followers feel personally acquainted with your company but your employees will feel valued as well. Your brand story should include the people who have worked to make it what it is today.

Screenshot originally from this post on Social Media Examiner with additional tips on how to improve your engagement on Instagram.

Beaucoup Bakery regularly showcases their customers through their Instagram account.

5. Company Events & Community Engagement

Getting involved in your community and holding events at the workplace obviously go beyond just making great Facebook albums. Regardless, people love to see the background of a company they do business with. Some of our most popular blog and Facebook posts have been about our company events and outings.

We regularly share photos from our company outings and events on our blog and through our social media platforms.

Tell Your Story

Whether you’re just starting out or revamping your efforts, these example posts above are common elements found in engaging social media accounts. Feel free to experiment, be creative, and have fun! This is about your story and how you want to tell it.

Here are some more resources to get you thinking about the kind of content to share:

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This tip is what gotten me; "4. Showcase employees
There’s very few better ways to feel close to a business than knowing the employees. Showcase the service, talents, and personalities of your staff. Not only will your followers feel personally acquainted with your company but your employees will feel valued as well. Your brand story should include the people who have worked to make it what it is today." This is totally correct and I think that more people should know about this and actually observe this.

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Hi! I was searching for some good reads about social media when I came across this article. Great post! Thanks for sharing this very useful post!
Btw, I noticed that you mentioned this Social Media Examiner blog - http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/getting-started/.
Just wanted to share that I have created a similar post except with grander list of social media tools, guides and other resources! It's published here: http://www.infinitdatum.com/social-media-marketing-resource-guide/
Might be worth a mention on your page too.
Keep up the good work!
Stay Awesome,
Alleli